Europe

Go Karting at Argenton-Les-Vallees, France

The international karting circuit at Argenton-les-Vallees has a grandstand and a fleet of around 20 karts for the general public to use. It is open 7 days a week: 9am – 12 and 2pm – 6pm. For €15, the driver can go up against nineteen other drivers at speeds of up to 90 km p/h. [...]

Mudflats near La Rochelle

Mudflats near La Rochelle

North of La Rochelle is a “beauty spot” marked on the map at Point St-Clément, West of Esnandes. What awaits travellers at low-tide is a desolate expanse of mudflats inhabited only by wader birds and cockle pickers. This area marks the super-flat lowlands which once made up a giant marshland known as the marais. Residents [...]

La Rochelle -

La Rochelle – “Best Seaside Town in France”

As with everything in life, recommendations from people must always be taken with a pinch of salt, but when everyone recommends a place to you, it means two things: 1) it is probably worth visiting; and 2) if you visit on a Sunday in July, you better be prepared for a crowd! As our Australian [...]

Marais Poitevin “Green Venice” in France

The Marais is an area of former marshes which were drained through irrigation channels to create a “green Venice” of lush waterways and bridges, popular with tourists. For around fifteen Euros, a party of four or five can hire a rowing boat for a couple of hours and negotiate the picnic spots and narrow channels [...]

Music Festival in Bressuire, France

Music Festival in Bressuire, France

This music festival in Bressuire took place on Monday 21st June 2010. Akin to a community karaoke session, the whole town showed up to try their hand at entertaining the locals and tourists with a few tunes and ditties. Ranging from nervous eleven year-olds, idolised by their friends, to strong, experienced vocals belting out tried [...]

Argenton-les-Vallees, Deux Sevres, France

Argenton-les-Vallees, Deux Sevres, France

Argenton-les-Vallees is a medium sized town in between Poitiers, Nantes, Angers and Niort in Deux Sevres, France. Boasting a chateau, lake, supermarket, post office and bakery, the town is a regional hub for rural shoppers and tourists. The lake is a shallow dam which offers canoe and kayak hire as well as a nearby camping [...]

Cherry Picking

Cherry Picking

I have heard of cherry pickers, but always imagined hydraulic lifting platforms, not people up ladders harvesting fruit. Somehow, taking fruit direct from source seems an incredibly old fashioned thing to do. But cherry pick I did, courtesy of the retired mayor of St Clementin, Monsieur Renault and his wife. Both are in their eighties [...]

The Argenton River, Deux Sevres, France

The Argenton River, Deux Sevres, France

This blog is being brought to you from Deux-Sevres in in the Poitou-Charentes Department of France. To the North lies the Loire Valley which houses the greatest collection of aristocratic chateaux in the whole of Europe. Towards the South of Deux-Sevres lies a marsh, irrigated by canals known as the “Venice Vert” (Green Venice) or [...]

Monsieur Ragondin

Monsieur Ragondin

He’s a bit like a beaver and a bit like an otter, but Monsieur Ragondin is actually a Coypu. If you’re travelling through France on a mission to avoid volcanic ash this week, take some time to spot this large riverbank dweller. Although he’s a pest, he also likes to hang out with the kids [...]

Biscuits are the Best Way to Learn a Foreign Language

Biscuits are the Best Way to Learn a Foreign Language

So you’re training a dog or a horse. What do you reward them with? A biscuit or perhaps a carrot. So what do we do for humans learning new tricks? A measly gold star or a pat on the back. Worse still, self-motivated learning such as “I would love to be able to speak Spanish” [...]